When I became a Christian at the age of 13, the concept of
faith and politics seemed quite polar opposites. I had a fantastic youth leader and what I
thought was a great pastor who believed that the message of God was that we are
to lead with an example of love to the people who feel they cannot be
loved. Over the years, I’ve watched my
pastors become more and more obsessed with politics and in particular merging
Christian faith with Republican Party ideals.
And I just don’t see it meshing…
I was taught that Jesus gave his life on the cross for ALL
humanity. But my leaders in the early 90’s began taking up the vanguard idea
that God CANNOT love the Homosexual and we must therefore oust them through
every method we can find. Why? Weren't there people living in Sin the very day Jesus gave his life for them? Did he stop the crucifixion? No!
I left my home church because they brought in Non-Christian
people and paid them fifty bucks a day to lobby from the church signatures to
put Springfield Oregon’s measure 20-08 on the ballot. The first controversial
City Constitution Amendment to declare Homosexuality “abnormal and perverse”. Were we really so afraid of two men living
together that we were desperate enough to hire Non-Christians to impose our
will?
And I know that we are all sick of hearing election posts, but let me touch on this point because I think its currently key to my argument.
Pastors for years taught us in our little Pentecostal world
that Mormon’s are not the same thing as Christians. We had WHOLE production teams we paid with
our tithes to make movies and write books about how this church, founded in
America by a horse thief and con artist was not the same thing as orthodox
Christian faith.
Here’s an excerpt from The God Makers, a documentary movie
about The Latter Day Saints that was circulated all over churches across the
country.
Before my Mormon friends start a tirade on this one, let me
address a few issues. I’ve personally
read The Book of Mormon both PRE and POST 1985 “Translation” when the offensive
“God cursed black people” reference was removed. I’ve read Doctrines and Covenants;
I’ve read Pearl of Great Price. All of
Joseph Smith’s books. I’ve also read Ronald Enroth’s book Kingdom of the Cults
and his discussion of the Latter Day Saints is spot on from my own research.
I have no problems with Mormon’s “Family Values”; I have no
problems with Mormon’s “Practice of Faith”.
What I disagree with is the doctrine surrounding the notion that “Another
Testament of Jesus Christ” exists and found in the United States of America. Therefore
the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s vision of Jesus, in my research and
opinion, is not the same Jesus I know and serve.
It’s not that I can’t be friends with Mormons, I do have
several, and I just have respectful disagreements.
What concerns me most this year is the attitude of the party
that boasts itself as the vanguard of Christians and Conservatives and
Fundamentalists placed its trust for the future of the country in a MORMON
BISHOP! Before Romney was a Governor, he
was a Bishop in the Latter Day Saints church.
So let me get this straight… The Republican party trusted its future
and its politics in the leader of an institution that for years they have
preached was Ungodly?
And now that he lost the election, we Christians are
supposed to moan and complain that the “Christian Candidate” lost? We are supposed to secede from the union because the "Christian" lost and the "Socialist" won.
Can I remind you folks again of The God Makers?
They made two of these!
I want you to take a moment and think about the dichotomy
here. We are expecting to pay a man who
Christians have taught is NOT a Christian to lead a party of Christians to
retake the White House and Force this country into line again because the evil
socialist Obama has ruined our country.
Do you know what’s ruined this country? It ain't socialists. What’s ruined this country is that people
profess this to be a Christian Nation and we don’t act like it.
And the best line covering this, came from a comedian.
I realize by posting this, I am probably going to offend a
lot of my friends. Mormons,
Conservatives, Christians, and by nature of reposting this on Facebook,
probably all of my Atheist and Alternative Faith friends. But let me go a step further…
Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, Right, Left,
These are all MAN MADE ideals. I profess that Jesus’ ideals are far and above
what any one single political organization professes. I profess that while a
Christian can and should be involved with politics; I don’t think our politics
should be our faith.
The greatest example of a political mover as a Christian who was never a politician despite people pushing him to be one, was Dr. Martin Luther King.
This man, a pastor, felt that the issue of Civil Rights was
a struggle that every believer should stand behind. Sadly, in his era, few Churches outside of
the African American churches initially joined his cause. Apparently many still
felt that they had their own church and they had their place and they should
stay in it. Determined, Dr. King rose up
and made the struggle of the African American the struggle of the American.
I am now therefore taking a page out of his playbook. I’m Native American, A Goth, a Poor Man, a
Snake Keeper, and a Pentecostal. I am
everything that neither the conservatives nor liberals want for one reason or
another. I am therefore divorcing my
faith from my political party (as if I had one). I am divorcing my faith from the image of
anything OTHER than Jesus. No leader in
politics will take his place in my mind.
No media mogul, no rich and vitriolic gas bag, no televangelist, will
take the place of Jesus in my life.
And if pursuing Jesus above political party offends you, if
pursuing his example of living above pounding people into submission offends
you. Then I pray God blesses you and
gives you what you need.
